LIZZIE’S EARL by Fiona Miers

Welcome to Notes From a Romantic’s Heart. Today, I’m featuring Lizzie’s Earl, the third book in author Fiona Miers’ An Heir and a Spare Regency series.

Lizzie’s Earl is on sale for 99 cents for the length of the tour atAmazon

A lovely young widow seeks a quiet gentleman, but finds a handsome rakehell instead.

Lizzie Symmons is newly widowed, with an estate and a comfortable income. But she’s off to London to find a gentleman who will give her the family she so desperately craves. She knows just the kind of man she wants–gentle, studious, preferring the quiet of country life and horses to the hubbub of town.

Lord Rupert Willoughby is a second son, the spare to his brother, the Earl of Sweeting, and a rakehell to the ton’s bored wives and widows. However, after five daughters, the Countess of Sweeting is done trying to bear an heir. It is now up to Rupert to produce the next Earl. To do so, he must marry, a prospect he loathes.

Rupert plans to find a biddable lady he can wed, bed, and leave in the country, while he carries on with his carefree life in London. But then he meets Lizzie. She sets Rupert’s body alight, but worse than that, she inspires goodness in him, makes him yearn for the heart and hearth his friends have attained.

Will Lizzie steal the rogue’s heart, so the next Earl is conceived in love? Or will Rupert’s stubbornness drive her to find another man?

“Sarah misses Charlotte even when they don’t meet for a day. It’s amazing how close they have become.” The Duke of Lincoln spoke thoughtfully of his wife.

Archie’s brown eyes softened again as they did every time he spoke of his wife.

“I know. I am very happy that they get along so well. This means our sons will grow up together, just as we did.” Archie smiled fondly, looking at John again who still refused to look up from his cards.

“Another drink?” Rupert asked gruffly, oddly moved by what Archie had said. He had never thought about it like that. Oliver and Archie had sons only a year apart. They would grow up together. Go on holidays together. Begin school together. As the youngest son he had never been able to play with anyone. He had been extremely lonely.

“Definitely,” John replied, lifting his hand to call a footman.

The footman brought over the whiskey decanter.

“More?” Rupert asked the other two, who were still nursing their second drinks. John and he were at least into their fourth, with many more to come Rupert was sure.

“No, no,” Oliver and Archie both chimed in, moving their glasses out of Rupert’s reach.

“Why you old fuddy duddies,” Rupert scolded good naturedly, pouring himself a drink.

“Can’t have another in case the wife finds out?”

Archie smiled his secret smile and Oliver sighed.

“Unlike you gentlemen, I must be sober enough to please my wife in bed tonight.” He joked, his smile showing how much he was looking forward to the task.

Rupert laughed but John choked on his whiskey. Gone were the days that they joked about their mistresses, now they were joking about their wives. How times had changed.

Lizzie’s Earl is a sexy little romp through Regency England. And, while the storyline is standard Regency, the author does a good job of developing her characters and giving them unique personalities.

This is the third in a planned four book series but can stand on its own. My only reservation was that the shorter, novella length did not allow for plot development. I felt there was so much more that could have been explored in a longer book. However, that said, as written it was still an entertaining read.

Fiona Miers has a super busy life, like most modern women, but always finds time for reading and writing romance. Her love affair with the romance genre started when she was only 11 years old, when her mother, and nana, handed her, her first mills and boon. Since then she’s built her own business, become a mother to two beautiful little girls, and fallen in love with the most spectacular man on the planet. (JMHO) Fiona writes MF contemporary and historical romance, writing more erotic stories under the pen name Tamsin Baker. Thank you for reading this, and hopefully you’ll love reading about her characters as much as she loved creating them.